


I'll Sit Forever With the Gods

by LadyDeb



Series: The Hand of Fate [2]
Category: Arrow (TV 2012), Transformers (Bay Movies)
Genre: Alternate universe Arrow, Cemetery Wind regrets messing with the Autobots' human allies, F/M, Gen, post Transformers: Age of Extinction, sequel to Just Average, the Undertaking never happened
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-14
Updated: 2014-07-14
Packaged: 2018-02-08 18:27:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,511
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1951578
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadyDeb/pseuds/LadyDeb
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After the events of Transformers:  Age of Extinction, Cade Yeager is on the cusp of everything he ever wanted, Joshua Joyce begins rebuilding his reputation, and members of Cemetery Wind get justice.</p>
            </blockquote>





	I'll Sit Forever With the Gods

**Author's Note:**

> After seeing Transformers: Age of Extinction, I couldn’t help thinking about NEST and how those who were saved by the return of the Autobots to Chicago would react to Cemetery Wind and all the ugliness that was inflicted upon those same Autobots. At the same time, I’ve become intrigued by Malcolm Merlyn of Arrow (true, I probably wouldn’t give him or Arrow a second thought if he wasn’t played by John Barrowman. But he is, so here we are). I wondered how he would react, not just to the betrayal committed against the Autobots, but to the destruction of Chicago in the months prior to the Undertaking. Throw the heroine of my last Transformer piece, Just Average, into the mix and you have this post Transformers: Age of Extinction offering. I’d love to include Darcy, as she was one of my favorite new characters, but there just wasn’t a place for her this time around. Maybe I’ll write a separate story for her.

Disclaimer: The only character who belongs to me is Angie (well, Cally, too … or to use her proper name, Caroline Rebecca Merlyn). Everyone else belongs to either _Transformers_ or _Arrow_. I also can’t claim the title … it’s from a line of _This is the Moment_. Every time I listen to it, I think of Malcolm as things led up to the Undertaking, and there was a lot of playing God in _Transformers: Age of Extinction_.

 

I’ll Sit Forever with the Gods

 

 

“Why … why do we _never_ learn?”

The young man said nothing … not just because he had no idea what to say, but because it wasn’t necessary for him to say anything. This wasn’t about comfort (at least, not yet), this was about letting a woman who had already been through hell vent at the stupidity of their political superiors. For the first time, he actually began to understand where his father was coming from. It was a bit frightening, really … coming to the realization that he actually saw eye to eye with his father about anything. So, instead of speaking, he simply held his step-mother’s hand, and let her vent her rage and frustration and grief in the wake of what they learned. She shook her head, her eyes never leaving the blank TV screen as she bitterly lamented, “We didn’t learn our lesson the first time, when we forced the Autobots to leave. Oh, and surprise surprise, _that_ genius move left us wide open to an attack from the Decepticons and Sentinel Prime. Oh, and instead of learning our lesson about sticking our heads in the sand and acting like things will go away, they doubled down on stupid. And now this happens? Where … does … it … end? _Where_?”

Her voice rose at the end as the tears began gathering at the corners of her eyes once more. Tommy Merlyn could only squeeze her hand, feeling more than a little helpless. Not a comfortable feeling for him, not at all, but unfortunately, it was a common one when he saw a woman crying. He always said that he was a lover not a fighter, and that was true (well, except when his best friend needed help in a fight). But looking at the tears now streaking his step-mother’s face … the face of the woman who gave him back his father … Tommy wished with all his heart that he was a fighter.

The trouble was, who would he fight? In the wake of the attacks across the globe and the revelations made tonight regarding Cemetery Wind (Will was right all along, and Tommy had some _serious_ groveling to do when he saw the head of Merlyn Global’s security again), and the alien bounty hunter they worked with … who would he fight? Who _could_ he fight? No one. Really, there was no one he could fight. And so, he just held his step-mother’s hand. He wanted to resent his father, because comforting her was his job, not Tommy’s … but his father was in the next room, quietly making arrangements with Joshua Joyce and the newest member of their little circle, an inventor/engineer from Texas named Cade Yeager.

Based on the little Tommy heard before his father closed the door behind him (very, very quietly), it sounded like this dude helped to save the world, along with his daughter, Joshua and the daughter’s boyfriend. Not that Tommy was all that impressed … after all, his father and step-mother counted half of the now-defunct NEST members among their closest friends. Hell, Will Lennox was his dad’s best man when he remarried three years earlier, as well as being the head of security.

Unexpectedly, pressure on his hand was returned and Angie said softly, “I’m so sorry. This can’t be easy for you.” Startled, Tommy looked at his step-mother, who was smiling at him ruefully. Seriously? After everything they just heard from his father’s old friend and the extended Yeager family, after everything Angeline Curtis Merlyn herself endured during the Decepticon attack on Chicago five years earlier, and she was apologizing to him??? In which universe did that even make sense? But Angie’s smile remained apologetic as she added, “I know this hasn’t been the best of times for you either … you’re still reeling from learning about the aborted Undertaking, and now this happens. I’m sorry, Tommy.”

Ah yes. The Undertaking. Tommy was actually still working that out … more to the point, working out how he should feel about it. His mother’s death remained a tender spot, even after all these years, but still … the idea of utterly demolishing the Glades? All those people? He never thought he would be grateful to the Decepticons for anything, and yet their attack against Chicago completely shattered his father’s intentions regarding the Undertaking. Just … utterly demolished those plans. Which was good … it was great, really … but there were other things Tommy had to forgive his father for. And that? That wasn’t so easy.

Still, he couldn’t lose sight of what Angie’s father told him at the wedding, back before he found out any of this … back when his anger with his father was the result of being abandoned by his only remaining family after his mother’s death. Malcolm Merlyn was his father, and he was the only one Tommy would ever have. Yeah, really couldn’t argue with that. Couldn’t argue with anything his step-grandfather had to say. Including, how the hell did Angie win Malcolm’s heart? His father, who barely even dated since his mother’s death, had fallen in love with a displaced office worker who survived the Decepticon attack by leading her co-workers into the tunnels under Chicago (it was called the Pedway, he needed to remember that). Huh?

And she wasn’t even the kind of woman he normally looked at once, much less twice, when he was in Starling City. She was just a quiet woman who had the good sense to think of the underground tunnels as a potential hiding place while World War Robot was being waged overhead. And then, to top it off, she met his father initially not as Malcolm Merlyn, but as his seriously badass (not that Tommy would ever say so out loud) alter ego, the Dark Archer.

It seemed the destruction of Chicago stripped away the veneer of civilization for some, and Angie nearly fell victim to someone who stopped behaving like a decent human being. That was how Angie’s mother put it, wrapping a protective arm around her younger daughter. The Dark Archer was patrolling the ruins of Chicago on that particular night and took exception to the attack. That was their first meeting. And of course, until three days earlier, when Joshua Joyce arrived with the Yeagers and the remaining Autobots, Tommy knew none of that. All Angie said was that his father saved her life. Talk about truth from a certain point of view!

Angie was still looking at him with a small smile, and Tommy had the uncomfortable feeling that he said some of that aloud. Damn, his brain to mouth filter _really_ needed work. Or maybe he needed sleep, after everything that happened today. At last, he said, “I’m still mad at him, you know.” Yeah, definitely needed sleep and _definitely_ needed to work on his brain to mouth filter. Angie’s smile brightened a little and her fingers curled around his a little tighter. Encouraged that Angie didn’t totally freak out on him, he went on, “I mean, I know the Glades … and I shouldn’t say this, but there’s a part of me which kinda can understand it … but to actually do it? To actually make a plan to do it? And in the end, it wasn’t conscience that pulled him back, but seeing in Chicago the end results of what the Undertaking would have done? What am I supposed to _do_ with that?”

He hated how he sounded. He hated that he sounded like the little boy he was when his mother was murdered and he lost his father to his own grief, instead of the twenty-nine year old man he was supposed to be. But it was the considered opinion of both his step-mother and her older sister that your parent(s) never lost the ability to make you feel like a child, no matter how old you really were. What defined an adult, Angie’s sister Lorelei (no way he was calling her Aunt) said was how that grown child reacted to that feeling. Something that Tommy never really thought about, but yeah, he could see her point.

Angie said softly, “If you think that Malcolm doesn’t know you’re still angry with him, you’re wrong. He does know. Your father has … I would bet that even before your mother died, she was the more effusive one in terms of her affection, while his was a quiet, steady affection that you knew was there, even if you weren’t aware of how you knew. In other words, your dad didn’t say that he loved you often, but you knew it anyhow.” Tommy nodded slowly, because she was right. In the years before his mother was murdered while she was trying to help people, he could remember a loving man who swept Tommy into his arms, no matter how tired he was when he got home from work … listening with a gentle smile as Tommy babbled about his day and the things he’d done. He remembered a father tucking him into bed, and sometimes waking up to that same father who fell asleep in the chair beside his bed … never making it to his own.

He realized now that his father’s reactions after his mother’s death wouldn’t have hurt nearly as much if Malcolm behaved that way beforehand. Angie said quietly, “He knows that you’re still angry with him, and will be for some time. He’s giving you space to work out how you feel about that, and where to go from there. He knows he made mistakes. He knows that he failed you … oh, how he knows that. But you’re all he has left of Rebecca.” Yeah, something else that was mentioned to him by Angie’s father. Every time his dad looked at him, he saw Tommy’s late mother. He thought about how he would feel if it was Laurel who died like that all those years ago … and then he thought about how he would feel to have her eyes staring back at him from their child. He wanted to believe that he would have done better … but he wasn’t so sure, and Tommy hated his step-mother just a bit for pointing that out to him.

The door to his father’s study opened, interrupting their conversation, and Joshua Joyce emerged once more with Tommy’s father and Cade Yeager (the latter still looking shell-shocked by whatever was said). The older inventor was shaking Dad’s hand, saying, “Thank you again, Malcolm. Not just for this … but for not saying what I know you wanted to say.” Oh, did he mean that Dad didn’t say ‘I told you so,’ since Tommy knew for a fact that he _did_ warn Joyce about what he was doing with the Cybertronian remains? Tommy and his step-mother looked at each other. Not just at the older man’s words, but at the limpet cradled against Dad’s chest. Joyce looked at them and said a bit sheepishly, “I _might_ have raised my voice a bit when Malcolm told me about the former NEST operatives who work for him. Just a bit.”

Tommy bit back a laugh at the man’s expression … as well as the exasperated huff Angie gave as she stepped forward and eased his little sister out of his father’s arms. She said softly, “It’s a good thing she went back to sleep, Joshua. Because if she didn’t, Darcy _would_ be hearing about this.” Joyce actually gulped, Yeager snickered, and Tommy saw Dad very carefully bite back a smile. There were times when Tommy didn’t really recognize his dad. This was one of them … but at the same time, he did. The last time he saw that look on his father’s face was before his mother died … and it was directed at both of them, just as it was now directed at his little sister. Angie went on, “Mr. Yeager, I saw both your daughter and her boyfriend to their rooms … yes, I gave them separate rooms. Tommy was already in his twenties when Malcolm and I were married, but I still learned about confirming that, the hard way.”

Oops. Tommy cursed the fair skin he inherited from both parents when he felt himself flushing. Dad observed, “She isn’t kidding, Cade. And you’re practically dead on your feet, so we’ll get you to your room as well, and then I’ll have your things brought from the hotel. The paparazzi know better than to come near us.” There was a dark satisfaction in his father’s voice that sent shivers down Tommy’s spine, and he wondered if the Dark Archer ever made an appearance to … dissuade those reporters. Or maybe they just met his step-mother when she was in Mama Grizzly mode. Tommy shuddered, not knowing which one was scarier.

“Will and Bobby are both in the garage with the Autobots, being debriefed about the last few years and about whatever Optimus is planning. I’m thinking we should keep Bumblebee closest, Malcolm … based on what I heard from both Mr. Yeager here and Will, Optimus was among those who raised Bumblebee. I don’t think I need to go any further?” Angie observed. Dad shook his head with a small smile. Angie turned her own smile toward Cade Yeager, saying, “C’mon. You’re in the room across from your daughter … as soon as Malcolm told me about the paparazzi literally flushing you out of your hotel, I got things organized here.”

Tommy all but groaned at his step-mother’s comment. Dad actually snickered. Cade Yeager, however, just smiled wearily and said, “Thank you, Mrs. Merlyn … sorry, Angie, you did tell me to call you ‘Angie.’ Joshua, you really meant what you said in China, about a new home for us.” Joyce’s face softened and he put his hand on the other inventor’s shoulder. Tommy cleared his throat, feeling A Moment coming on. Maybe he should go check on the Autobots and what was left of NEST. Yeah. That sounded like a good idea … it sounded like a really good idea, actually. Kissing the top of his little sister’s head, Tommy made his excuses and fled to the relative safety of the garage, where Bumblebee, Hound, Crosshairs, and Drift were talking to Will Lennox and Bobby Epps. Yes, it would be much, _much_ safer with them.

 

 

TFTFTFTFTF

 

 

Malcolm Merlyn hadn’t said ‘ _I told you so_ ’ when Joshua explained in detail what happened in Chicago and China … what he said, in truth was, ‘ _that’s what happens to us humans when we think we should sit with the gods_.’ He spoke as if he’d done something similar to Joshua … or maybe even worse. Not that Cade Yeager was truly interested. Right now, all he wanted to do was check on his little girl and then get some sleep. In the weeks since Optimus Prime blasted off into outer space to deal with his ‘creators’ and Cemetery Wind stopped blowing, Cade hadn’t stopped moving. He and Joshua would be working together, but until they arrived in Starling City, they hadn’t had a chance to work out the details.

As a result of his alliance with Attinger, Joshua’s reputation and company was in tatters. Hammering out their new partnership was impossible in Chicago and returning to their home in Texas utterly gutted Cade. So, to Starling City they went, because Joshua wanted to talk to his old friend and sometimes-ally, Malcolm Merlyn. Cade wasn’t entirely sure what he was expecting when they arrived in the Pacific city from the man in question … he just knew that whatever he was expecting, he was wrong. Oh, at first glance, he was a rich entrepreneur in his mansion and his crazy work hours. But when Cade looked deeper, he saw a father and a husband … and something else. Something darker. Cade wasn’t afraid of him, as such, but he realized very quickly that people underestimated Malcolm Merlyn at their own peril.

Which wasn’t to say that his wife Angie wasn’t dangerous. She was. In some ways, she was even more dangerous than Malcolm … in part because she seemed so sweet and gentle. And she _was_ sweet and gentle, but people made the mistake of thinking her weak and or stupid as a result. Not Cade, though. He knew better than that … his late wife wasn’t all that different from the woman who opened her home to him and his daughter and Lucky Charms, taking Tessa under her wing at the same time. Angie Merlyn survived the Decepticon attack against Chicago, and for the first year and a half afterward, she helped to rebuild it. Not only that, but she helped to save the lives of co-workers by leading them into the Pedway tunnels, where they were mostly safe from the Decepticon attack. Definitely someone you underestimated at your own peril. Add to that her reaction when an idiot reporter followed her into the ladies room to try to take pictures of her while she was changing her toddler’s diaper? Oh yeah. You underestimated Angie Merlyn at your own peril, and you targeted her children at the risk of your own life.

That same woman was now leading Cade toward his bedroom. She first took him to Tessa’s room, where his daughter was sleeping peacefully (alone), and then to his own, which was right across the hall. Right beside Shane’s, as it happened. For that alone, Cade asked the woman of the house if he could give her a platonic kiss, and she laughingly offered up her cheek, which he lightly bussed. Inside his own room (which, he learned, was originally shared by Malcolm and his first wife Rebecca before her death two decades earlier), Cade collapsed into bed. But of course, as so often was the way, his mind was still in motion, even as his body ached for rest.

His life had changed in so many ways during the last few weeks, ever since he found what was later revealed to be Optimus Prime in that old theater. Cade’s heart ached just a bit, thinking about his hometown and his friends, and everything that happened because of that purchase. And yet, how could have done anything else? He was an inventor, an engineer … a human being. And while he wasn’t a human being, Optimus Prime wasn’t just a giant piece of metal. He was an individual, he had a soul. The words they used to describe it may have been different, but it worked out to the same thing.

He told his daughter that sometimes, so many times, beautiful things came out of what seemed to be mistakes. That was true here as well. He lost so much, but gained even more. He and his little girl were alive, and thanks to a single phone call he made to sway Joshua to their side … he had everything he ever hoped for, including money to send Tessa to any college she wanted to attend. Cade exhaled slowly, remembering what Mr. Merlyn offered to him. It would be a three-way partnership … for a man who sacrificed for his daughter, a man who sacrificed his soul for what seemed to be a glittering prize, and a man who nearly unleashed hell on his city.

Mr. Merlyn … Malcolm admitted that he wasn’t a good man. He described for Cade the Undertaking, and Cade stared at him in horror. Malcolm smiled a little at his reaction and explained the Undertaking, including the reason why. Cade couldn’t understand it. Yeah, he could understand Malcolm’s rage and grief and guilt. He couldn’t forgive himself, so of course he wouldn’t forgive the people who left a woman to die, a woman who was trying to help them. Malcolm murmured, “I’m still not a good man. I chose to end the Undertaking not because I forgave anyone, but because it would have only made a bigger mess … and then I put that device away where no one could find it. So, if you’re wondering what makes me any better from the members of Cemetery Wind, I’m not so sure I am.”

Joshua had rolled his eyes and answered, “Well, gee, Malcolm, how about this … if you realized your actions were going to destroy the world, you’d have canceled those plans!” Merlyn was unable to argue with that truth, and judging from his expression, Joshua was inordinately proud not just of that, but his ability to render Merlyn speechless. His comment a moment later bore this out as he told Cade, “I actually got him to shut up. I didn’t think anyone other than Becca and Angie could do that. Becca would kiss him to get him to shut up, and as for Angie … well.”

Yeah. Well. Malcolm merely responded with a smile that actually creeped Cade out, and responded, “Just remember. Angie regards Darcy as one of her best friends.” Joshua gulped at that. Cade thought of the pretty blonde scientist and then he thought about Angie Merlyn, and then he thought about the two women together … and he gulped as well. Merlyn’s smile warmed a touch and he said, “I thought you might see it my way.”

After the years of making it, after the years of relying mainly on himself and his daughter, he suddenly had a much larger family. He had Tessa, he had Lucky Charms, he had Joshua, he had the Autobots, and now he had the Merlyns. Malcolm was broken in many ways, but somehow, Angie filled in most of those broken pieces. There was none of this ‘saving you’ business. She just loved him, even knowing about the Undertaking. Even as his son struggled to forgive him for what he had done, his wife saw nothing to forgive because he stepped away from the edge of the cliff … and made sure that he wouldn’t get near that cliff again.

Could he do that? Could he have leveled a part of a city, leveled the place where his wife was murdered, where people didn’t care enough to even call for help on her behalf? Could he have stepped away from that destruction? He didn’t know. He just knew that by doing the right thing, even though there were times when it seemed like he made a mistake, everything he ever wanted for himself and his daughter was falling into place, and it scared the hell out of him. He was working with Merlyn, Cade reminded himself … that didn’t mean that he had to trust him. He would continue with trying to make his ideas work, and making sure that Tessa had what she needed, but at the same time, he would watch Merlyn … and if the other man seemed like he was about to slip into megalomania, Cade would work out a way to stop him, to pull him back.

That was the last thing he thought as he drifted off to sleep … that, and a hope that wherever he was, Optimus Prime was all right.

 

 

TFTFTFTFTFTF

 

 

 

“So … what do you think?”

“Well, that’s a loaded question … what do I think of what, exactly? Will’s newest protégée? I gotta wonder how Sarah’s gonna take it,” was Angie’s droll response. Malcolm turned his head to look at his wife … and rolled his eyes. Angie just laughed softly, nestling against him as she added, “Sorry. You should know me better than that by now.” Malcolm kissed her forehead, acknowledging to himself that she was right. He should know her better than that. True, she had changed from the shell-shocked, traumatized woman he first met five years earlier in the ruins of Chicago, but he watched the changes take place. And he knew that she would deny she was in shock or traumatized, but she was. There was no way she could survive what she did without some degree of trauma. Oh, Malcolm knew that other Chicago survivors were dealing with PTSD, but those survivors weren’t his wife. Angie was, and after losing Rebecca the way he did, Malcolm took no chances with her safety or the safety of their daughter.

“I think that he doesn’t trust you yet,” Angie observed and Malcolm hummed his agreement. Yes, he noticed that as well. And he didn’t blame the inventor … more to the point, he would have been concerned if he did. It was one thing for Tessa Yeager to trust Angie … his wife spent the better part of an afternoon, taking the high school senior shopping for clothes and toiletries, given what she lost when their house was destroyed by Cemetery Wind. Plus, they were both from Texas and had the common ground of contact with the Autobots (Malcolm only had to remember his son’s reaction when he found out that Angie met Optimus Prime). Malcolm, on the other hand, was worlds apart from Cade … and in some ways, not that different from the men who tried to destroy his life and threatened to kill his daughter.

He said as much to his wife, adding, “Trust takes time, Angel. He knows about my past … well, some of it … and he has a general idea of what I’m capable of. It’ll be fine. I told him about the Undertaking for that reason.” He wanted Cade Yeager to be wary of him, wanted the inventor to watch him. As strange as it may have sounded, it was true. Angie made a happy little noise, as she always did when he called her ‘Angel.’ Most of her family called her ‘Angie,’ and he did as well … but ‘Angel’ was his special nickname for her, something no one else called her.

“That reminds me … I wanted to thank you,” Angie observed quietly and Malcolm looked at her curiously. To the best of his knowledge, he hadn’t done anything special today to warrant that. Emphasis on ‘to the best of his knowledge.’ Angie went on, “I know I’ve said it before, but it bears repeating. Thank you for canceling the apocalypse of the Glades. I probably would have forgiven you for that, if you had gone through with it, but it would have been a helluva lot harder.” Malcolm kissed her forehead again, tightening his arms around her.

“I wouldn’t say that I canceled the apocalypse, Angel … it’s a temporary stay of execution. If something ever happened to you or Tommy, or even worse, to Cally …” Malcolm answered. His blood ran cold at the very idea of his baby girl being hurt in any way. His older daughter Thea didn’t even know that he was her birth father, and had very little use for him, but Cally … he was there when Cally was born. He was the second person to hold her, after her mother. She was his second chance, and he would die … he would _kill_ before he let anything happen to her.

And he was never given the chance to further explain exactly what he would do to anyone who hurt his wife or any of his children, because there was a blur of motion, and then his wife was straddling his hips. She didn’t stop there, either … each of her small, strong hands grasped a wrist and pinned it to the bed. Dark eyes glowered down at him as Angie bit out, “Don’t. Don’t you _dare_. Malcolm, swear to me now … swear by Cally’s life, by Tommy’s life … that you won’t unleash that thing, ever! Promise me that you won’t do that to someone else!”

Promise that you won’t do that to someone else. Malcolm quietly cursed himself. Here he was, only a few minutes earlier, acknowledging his wife’s PTSD, and then he turned around and forgot it. Breaking the hold she had on his wrists was easy enough … he was still stronger than her, after all … wrapping her in his arms was even easier. He kissed the side of her neck, the hollow of her throat, the bare skin of her shoulder, whispering, “I swear by all that I hold dear, I will not do that to anyone else. By your life, by Cally’s, by Tommy’s.” It wasn’t entirely what she asked, but it was the best he could do. He knew it, and she knew it. Angie all but melted against him, and Malcolm held her for several more moments, until her trembling stopped. And then he rolled over on top of her, and proceeded to show her just how much he appreciated her patience and kindness over the last few days. And then, he simply held her.

Malcolm really hadn’t been much of a cuddler, not since Rebecca’s death. It was yet another way he failed his son, another way he was determined not to fail his daughter. But, Angie was a cuddler … often curling up against him, or even wrapping herself around him. Somewhat to his astonishment, he didn’t mind it in the least. In some ways, he even enjoyed it … her arms wrapped tightly around his waist and her hair feathered against his shoulder, feeling of her breath against his skin. He wasn’t entirely sure how long he lay there, once his wife drifted off to sleep. It didn’t really matter. What mattered was that his threats brought back memories for Angie … true, they were never far from the surface, but her emotions were already all over the map, thanks to what Joshua and Cade told them this afternoon.

As curious as it seemed to him, she hadn’t just formed attachments to the members of NEST (what was left of them) after the attack against Chicago … she also formed an attachment to Optimus Prime himself. Their meeting was incredibly short, it lasted mere seconds, and yet … and yet, Angie regarded the Autobot leader as part of her family. Malcolm didn’t understand it, but he didn’t have to. It was just the way Angie was made, and if she could love and accept him after finding out about the Undertaking, he could certainly accept this.

At last, however, restlessness drove Malcolm from his wife’s arms and the warmth of their bed. Everyone was asleep … naturally, it was long past midnight. A glance from the security office into the garage told him that Bobby and Will fell asleep in Hound and Bumblebee, respectively. Malcolm smiled to himself … Will might not have the bond with Bee that he did with Ironhide, but Bee was still family. Family. Malcolm nodded slowly. His wife regarded the Autobots as family … that made them Malcolm’s family as well. Not just friends, not just allies, but family. Not just because that was how Angie saw them, but because just like Rebecca, those they’d been trying to help turned against them. Malcolm nodded slowly. Yes. Yes, that was exactly right.

Which meant that he now knew what he would do with the two individuals living in the basement of Merlyn Manor. He had contacts, allies, other than Joshua … and they did not take kindly to what was almost unleashed on the world. And it was those allies who delivered his prisoners into his hands. He’d left them downstairs with food and water, and access to toilet facilities, and that was it. Malcolm just needed to do two more things before he headed downstairs himself … one was what he was doing now: reviewing the security tapes of his conversation with Cade Yeager, when the Texan explained everything that he could remember from the moment he found Optimus Prime. And the other thing? He needed the trappings of the Dark Archer. He needed his leathers and his cowl and his weapons.

Once he was satisfied that he remembered everything Cade said when he arrived with the kids and the Autobots (and Malcolm fixed that picture in his head, the image of his wife wrapping a protective arm around Tessa’s shoulders when Cade described the head of Cemetery Wind holding a gun to his little girl’s head), he changed into his leathers and drew his hood over his face. Slowly, careful not to wake anyone else up, Malcolm descended into the basement of his home. He was already planning out what he would say to the remaining operatives of Cemetery Wind, the ones who survived Chicago and China: _we’re going to play a game. It’s called_ ‘ _Cemetery Wind and Autobots.’ Except I’m going to be Cemetery Wind, and you? Well, you’re going to be the Autobots_. _Don’t worry, I’ll show you just as much mercy as you showed them_. He allowed himself a small smile as the elevator descended. No, the Undertaking wouldn’t happen, and he was working on being a better father to Tommy and Cally … but the Dark Archer was still needed. It wouldn’t be his fate to sit with the gods, but this was still justice.

 

Fin


End file.
